I live in CT. I grew up here and moved back after law school about 2 years ago. I have a decent enough job/life, but I after reading a lot of stats and sitting in on a lot of commissions lately I am increasingly dismal about the future here. Connecticut is apparently 2nd in the nation for the exodus of young (25-40) people from the state.

Part of me thinks I should ride things out and be one of the few people left and take advantage of the high demand for young workers, but part of me thinks there must be better places out there.

What are the top places in the nation for young people? Where is there the best combo of job opportunities, low cost of living, and culture/entertainment for people in their 25-40s?

I think someone who is young should experience city life at least once. Be it in san francisco, nyc, seattle, chicago, wherever. Then they can be miserable and fail and retreat back home...or something like that. That's my plan for after college.

I grew up in the Australian equivalent of CT...Adelaide, South Australia. Adelaide has a similar exodus of young/smart/talented people (and me too). I highly recommend joining that exodus. Best thing I ever did.

Yeah, but high, high, oh-so-high costs of living. In fact, I think that low cost of living and culture/entertainment are negatively correlated.

I haven't spent much time in Connecticut, but it always seemed nice to me. I've been up to New Haven a lot lately, and I like it.

Thanks. I've spent a lot of time in New Haven in the last 6 months or so and it is in fact a pretty fun place, IMHO.

I wasn't looking for the classic city list. I've spent about as much time in Boston as anyone who has lived there (I went to law school in the area) and moving there or DC would be the plan if I could't come up with anything better. I was thinking more of places like Boulder, CO? Austin, TX? Places that might be a little smaller and thus offer some advantages in terms of cost.

While Philadelphia and Baltimore aren't great places in and of themselves, I'd suggest them. They are a stone's throw away from each other, NYC, and DC, but don't cost an arm and a leg to live in. With Denimbar, Uniqlo NYC, and H&Ms abound, the shopping is fine for the youth as well.

DC ranked very high in a recent poll on this very subject in Money (I think) magazine. If you're a lawyer, there is no better place for jobs. The city and metro-accessible suburbs are fairly pricey, but Capitol Hill staffers seem to get by, so it's definitely doable. As far as culture and entertainment goes, it's no SF or NYC, but it's better than people give it credit for. The weather is definitely better than Boston. There is supposed to be a very favorable male-female ratio that I have not personally witnessed.